Trust Issues
by jUsT-CAuSe-I-cAN
Summary: Skipper is as paranoid as ever when he learns there are going to be some new animals joining the Central Park Zoo. The rest of the team thinks he's just being his overly-secretive self, but when Kowalski's new invention goes missing after the arrival of said newbies, they begin to also have doubts.
1. Paranoid

**Hey! This is my first fanfic and... Yeah. That's that. The first chapter is longer than I had intended, so sorry. Hope you like it anyways. I'm not going to ask anyone to go easy on me with the reviews. It probably wouldn't help anything XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Penguins of Madagascar. That is why this is a fanfiction site.**

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"Bad news, men."

A sturdily built penguin with a flat looking head entered the underground headquarters through a hatch in the ceiling. Having heard him speak, a smaller, rather chubby penguin stopped playing with his Lunacorn toys and gave the older bird an inquisitive took.

"What is it, Skippah?" The little penguin asked with an utterly adorable British accent. As he spoke, he tilted his head a bit, as if to emphasize his already obvious curiosity.

The penguin who had spoken first, apparently called Skipper, continued to walk towards the middle of the large, square room before answering. Leaning on one flipper against the table, he spoke.

"Our security is soon to be breached. There will be a a new arrival to the zoo come Wednesday, and judging from past experiences, that can't lead to anything good."

"Skipper," The tallest of the penguins looked up from some sort of contraption he had been working on and removed his safety goggles. "I understand why you've come to that conclusion, but don't you think you're being a bit..." He paused and rubbed the back of his egg-shaped head with his flipper. "Oh, I don't know..." He trailed off awkwardly again.

"Come on, Kowalski, spit it out!" Skipper had a hint of challenge in his voice, but mostly impatience.

"Paranoid." Kowalski finished. He said it a bit fast, but it was still very clearly understandable.

Skipper raised an *eyebrow at this.

"Paranoid?" It sounded like more of a statement than a question.

Kowalski shifted a bit uncomfortably as his eyes flickered to the side and back to the shorter penguin in front of him.

"Not necessarily paranoid." Was his attempted at an excuse. "But don't you think you're being a bit judgmental? I mean, we don't even know who this new animal is yet. They won't even arrive at the zoo until tomorrow."

Skipper, who seemed to be the leader, turned towards the two other penguins in the room, the chubby one and a taller one. Not quite as tall as Kowalski though he still looked stronger and more intimidating, with his not-entirely-sane grin and his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He even looked to have a small mohawk.

"Rico, Private." The leader addressed them. "What are your thoughts on the situation?"

Private, the short chubby one, seemed uncomfortable, but did however admit that he agreed with Kowalski.

"It's just," He explained. "I don't think it's right to say whether someone's bad or not without having met them."

"Hablabla bahablableh!" The intimidating one, Rico, babbled incoherently, rapidly shaking his head in agreement.

Skipper sighed, and paced in front of the other penguins.

"Men, I've been at this much longer than you." He looked at them."All of you."

"I think I'm right when I say that something's going to go wrong. If I weren't I wouldn't be standing in front of you. I would've ended up just like Manfredi and Johnson, as dead and gone as Rico's sanity."

Manfredi and Johnson were a popular topic of Skipper's. They had been his team before them, and judging from the stories they had apparently died in what might just be every way ever present in an action movie. Kowalski honestly didn't believe these penguins even existed, not that he would tell his commander. Private didn't even think to question their leader, however, and seemed to believe every word of the stories. Rico didn't give the tales much thought at all. Honestly, no one was really sure if that penguin gave much thought to anything.

The flightless birds stood in silence, and it got pretty uncomfortable. Skipper could tell his team still didn't agree with him though, that they didn't believe him when he said that the animal coming to the zoo couldn't be anything but bad news.

It wasn't like they made an effort to hide it either. Private kept shuffling his feet as he stared at the floor. Kowalski cleared his throat nervously and was also not looking at the flat-headed penguin. Rico's expression actually didn't look any different than his usual, but he didn't move so he must've known better than to try to walk away and just sat there like the rest.

That was when an otter with light brown fur dropped in.

"Hey guys," She started in an excited voice. "Did you hear? We're getting a new..."

She was quiet when she saw the penguins.

"Er, am I interrupting something?" She could practically taste the awkward in the small concrete room.

"Marlene! how many times do I have to tell you not to just to just barge into _my _HQ?"

Skipper sounded annoyed and even whiny, but still managed to be somewhat stern.

"How would you like it if we walked right into your habitat unannounced?" The commando penguin demanded.

The otter, Marlene, stuck out her hip and crossed her arms. She rolled her eyes and casually walked up to the penguins, stopping in front of Skipper.

"Actually, you've done that before. A _lot_ of times, actually." She spoke in a voice that was somewhere in-between annoyed and amused, with a hint of sarcasm. "And, no, I don't like it."

The penguin almost looked offended, but covered it up by pretending that he thought she was just being irritating, and his expression barely faltered at all.

"'Ello, Marlene!" Private greeted her enthusiastically. No matter what Skipper thought or said, the private enjoyed her visits. Marlene was nice to him and could be very funny when she wanted to.

"Hey, Private." The otter replied. Her eyes explored her surroundings, stopping to rest on the contraption Kowalski had been working on earlier. She moved to get closer to it. She saw it was some sort of gun, a ray of sorts. Like in science fiction movies. It had a sleek, dark blue exterior. Marlene ran her hand down it side, stopping at the front. Looking closer, she found it wasn't a ray at all. It had a scanner at the front, like the kind used to scan the price of items at a checkout counter, except it curved in a kind of almost half-circle.

"What does this do?"

"Classified." Was Skipper's curt reply.

Kowalski told her anyways.

"It's my Thought Projector." He explained. "It scans one's thoughts and projects it back onto any flat surface. I'm not near finished yet, though. **I've still got to work on the atomic structure of the scanning particles, not to mention prevent the potential gamma radiation this could emit-"

Marlene interrupted the scientist, though. She sort of felt bad, but didn't see the use of listening to him if she only understood a few of the words he was saying.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you guys, but it's late and we've got a _big_ day tomorrow! I'm so exited to meet the new neighbor."

Marlene began to climb up the ladder that led up to the hatch. Before exiting through it, though, she had a thought.

"It might even be neigh_bo__rs."_

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**Whew! First chapter is done. Review please. If you like it, tell me. If you hate it, still tell me. If you love it, you _better_ tell me ):3  
**

***I know penguins don't really have eyebrows. I couldn't think of a different word, but if anyone else can please tell me.**

****I have no knowledge of science. I've never been good at it and didn't retain the information well at all. So I used big words that sounded scientific and could maybe pass as actually relating to the subject even though they don't :D  
**


	2. Morning Routines

**So. Chapter two. This is it. ^u^**

**Thanks so, so, so very very much for the reviews, guys. I loves you all! 3**

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"Rise and shine, boys!"

Groans resounded from three out of the four bunk-beds. They weren't really beds, but square crevices going into the concrete wall, set one above the other, each with a single pillow and a small blanket bunched up in them. These crevices were comfortable, however, and the penguins had been sleeping peacefully before Skipper's commanding voice had interrupted.

One would think that after doing it for so long, rising early would've just become routine, but so far waking up at 6AM sharp had remained one of the worst parts of the day. The rest of the team couldn't imagine how Skipper had the energy to go to sleep as late as he did and still rise even earlier than them, just to be what was basically a living alarm clock. Living, therefore an alarm without the bliss that is the snooze button.

Despite all this, Rico, Private, and Kowalski reluctantly climbed out of bed.

"Morning, Skippah." Private yawned. The youngest bird always quickly regained his friendly attitude in the morning, aside from the fact that he took the longest to fully wake up.

"Good morning, Private." The leader replied. Though one wouldn't expect it, Skipper was actually more of a morning penguin. Or, better said, he was much less grumpy in the mornings than during the rest of the day.

Kowalski plunked down onto one of the stools at the table, and grabbed the newspaper. It wasn't necessarily that he wanted to read it, but that the scientist needed to occupy himself to keep from falling asleep.

Rico just grumbled as he leaned his head on the wall, eyes half closed. He was frowning as though he had a headache.

"Come on, men, wake up! We're having a training session before the spy gets here!"

"Spy?" Kowalski peered over the newspaper. "You mean the new neighbor?"

"A spy by any other name is _still_ a spy."

Kowalski had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, and instead he stood and sleepily dragged himself over to the ladder. Rico and Private noticed him do so, and followed suit, the young private moving more eagerly than his comrades.

Once all four penguins were above ground, they had to immediately shield their eyes. The sun shone brightly, and reflected off the water that surrounded their concrete island. After their eyes had adjusted, Skipper went over the training plans.

"Today we will be sparring." He pointed to Kowalski. "Kowalski, you're with Rico."

The scientist bird's eyes opened noticeably wider at his commander's words, and he looked to the bird next to him. Rico, as if to put emphasis Kowalski's fear, rolled his eyes around and laughed maniacally.

"And Private," Skipper looked to the younger penguin. "You'll be up against me."

Private's eyes widened even more considerably than Kowalsi's had, though he didn't object.

And so they sparred. Each penguin kept track of his wins and losses, to see in the end who could beat out the other.

Kowalski and Rico's match had gone well enough for both. Kowalski had won 6 times, and Rico had a score of 9.

Private, surprisingly, had won 2 matches. However, the young penguin did have a feeling his sparring partner had let him win the first time. But he didn't mind, because Private knew he had won fair and square the second time, and was very proud of it. Skipper had won most of the time with a score of 15, but that was to be expected of him as the leader of the team.

The team of penguins, all tired from the exercise, looked to their leader for new instruction. Skipper wiped his forehead as though wiping off sweat, though penguins don't really perspire at all.

"Okay boys," He panted. "After a short break, we'll go meet this '_new neighbor' _head on, first thing they get here."

The way he said 'new neighbor' made the fact that he hadn't changed his opinion about the new zoo animal very clear. His team didn't argue. Private even seemed excited, he loved meeting any potential friends, and didn't see any harm in not immediately thinking of the new arrivals as enemies.

As the birds rested, they heard a splash in the water behind them and quickly whirled around to face the source of the noise, each penguin in a fighting stance. But once they saw who was there, they relaxed.

"Um, hi?" Marlene greeted them, confused as to why they looked prepared to fight her.

"Marlene, don't just sneak up on us like that!" Skipper was still on edge.

"Hey, I _just _wanted to know if you guys want to go see the new animals with me." The otter put her hands up in a sort of 'calm down' gesture.

"They're already here?" Kowalski asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I just saw Alice wheeling a crate into the storage room." Marlene explained. "It was actually a pretty big crate."

Skipper narrowed his eyes at this.

"Really?" Private inquired. The thought of meeting too large an animal scared him a bit. "How big?"

The marine mammal pondered this for a moment.

"All four of you guys could've fit in there pretty comfortably, I think." She decided. "I could've fit too, but that would've been a tight squeeze."

Skipper narrowed his eyes.

"Be prepared for anything, men." He addressed his team.

As if that was his cue, Rico coughed up an already lit bomb.

"Kaboom!" He exclaimed.

"Negative on the kaboom, soldier." The leader said.

Rico grumbled in what might have been annoyance, or maybe disappointment. He swallowed the bomb, and slumped his shoulders in a pouting sort of way.

Skipper, nodded in satisfaction.

"Move out!"

And so the penguins dove into the water and jumped the fence that surrounded their habitat. Once they were out, the four slid on their stomachs toward a fairly large, red building with a metal garage.

"Hey!" Marlene called after them.

She hurried to catch up with the penguin commandos.

"Wait up!"

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**And that is that. Sorry, it's kinda short. Pesky writers' block... **

**I should probably eat something, I can't write on an empty stomach after all! **

**Oh my goodness gracious, I've been working on this since about 1:30. That's more than five hours. And it's Friday! This is just sad. **

**Mwahahaha, you have to wait to meet the new animals. I would've put them in this chapter, but I feel like being evil today! Hehe, just joking. I'm just still planning out their characters. No mary-sues for me, no sir.**

**Review pretty please with cherries and sprinkles and chocolate syrup and all those other delicious unhealthy toppings.**


	3. Laughter and Disagreements

**I like Fun.**

**_/Some nights I stay up, cashing in my bad luck!/_**

**_And F.U.N.  
_**

**_/F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and me!/  
_**

**... Anyhow, on to chapter 3!**

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"Wow, you guys slide fast." Marlene panted and bent over to put her hands on her knees. "Slow down next time, will you?"

She had caught up to the penguins, and stood with them in the storage building, facing a wooden crate. Aside from Marlene's heavy breathing everything was quiet as they stared. It was a simple square box, fairly large, just as Marlene had said. The front was nailed shut. All in all, it looked pretty harmless. Well, at least to everyone except Skipper.

"Kowalski. Analysis."

The scientist did as he was told and waddled up to the crate to 'analyze' it.

"Hmm.." He hummed. Then, strangely enough, he licked the wood the box was constructed of. Putting a flipper under his chin, Kowalski moved his mouth as though to savor something he had eaten. After a moment, he strode over to Rico and slapped him on the back. He seemed satisfied when Rico coughed up a measuring tape and went back to the crate, where he proceeded to measure it on two sides. The bird tapped his chin some more.

"A four-by-four cube-shaped crate, that seems to be made of lumber boards and lumber sheathing."

"Anything else?" Skipper question, not looking away from the oh-so-suspicious wooden crate.

Kowalski pressed the side of his head to the box, and knocked on the it three times. No one said a thing, it was once again quiet as everyone stared at the crate. That is, until three more knocks echoed back from inside of it.

"Well," The scientist bird timidly said. "There seems to be something in it."

"Or _someone._" Private sounded slightly frightened, too.

Everyone spun their heads around to look at Rico in expectation. He understood, and coughed up a crowbar, immediately passing it to Skipper.

The penguin commander jumped from corner to corner and side to side of the large box, removing all the nails one at a time. When finished, he flipped off of the top of the crate and landed with the others, whirling around just in time to see a wooden board begin to fall forward with a whoosh of air.

Time seemed to slow down, or even stop completely.

Finally, the board clattered to the ground to reveal three animals, all about the size of Marlene and the penguins. The darkness inside of the crate kept them from being seen completely, but what was plain to see was that they were each in a fighting stance. Taking note, the penguins did the same. Marlene on the other hand stepped back a bit, though she definitely wasn't planning on running away by any means.

"Show yourselves!" Skipper demanded. "Who are you and why are you here?!"

The three figures slowly dropped their stance and stepped out of the shadows, though they remained alert. Standing before them was an owl, a bat, and some sort of small mammal.

The tiny mammal was black and white like Julien, and also had a long tail like him, except it wasn't striped or nearly as bushy. The odd part was that there was skin stretching between her arms and torso, like some sort of wings, that they went all the way down to her feet. Her hands and feet were both a rosy pink. This unidentified animal, maybe a flying squirrel or something, had a cute face with a nose the same shade of pink as her hands, and big innocent eyes filled with nervousness.

The owl was very small for a predatory bird, with sandy colored feathers, a black beak, and electric yellow teardrop-shaped eyes. Her black talons were small and dull, to the point where one couldn't really call them talons at all. Her face and stomach were white, just like the tips of her wings and the three dots on her forehead. The bird's expression was unreadable besides a glint of calculation in her eyes, as though she were sizing up Skipper and the others. She stood in front of the animals that had come out of in the crate with her.

The bat was the most intimidating, almost as tall as Kowalski, with entirely black eyes that glittered with mischief. She had a smirk on her face after looking at the penguins fighting stances, as though just itching for a fight. Her fur was a rich brown, with a large puff of red-brown fur on her chest and a tuft of the same color of fur on her head, too. Her wings were a shade of dusty grey and she had a long, brown nose that stretched across her face. The tips of her two glistening fangs just barely poked out from her closed mouth.

Again, time stood still as a silent tension filled the room.

"I could ask you the same thing." The owl said, finally.

"Our identities are classified to you three, at least for now. And we're _here _because we _live _here."

"In the storage building?" The owl retorted with an are-you-serious look, though she didn't smile. Behind her, the bat snickered.

Skipper glared, and Rico coughed up a rather large gun. The three girls looked alarmed by him, but the brown bat regained her battle-ready attitude and locked eyes with the psychotic bird.

The little black and white mammal cut in.

"What are you guys mad at _us_ about?" She addressed the penguins. Her voice wasn't angry and annoyed, but confused and scared. "I mean, it's not _our _fault we got transferred to this zoo."

"You know, she's right." Kowalski comented.

"Don't agree with the enemy, soldier!" Skipper reprimanded him. "They're just playing mind games."

He narrowed his eyes at the little squirrel-like animal, who shrank back as though she were afraid.

"Who says we're the enemy?" No one could tell if the bat was being sarcastic or not, but she was still smirking. Her eyes were still locked on Rico's even though she was talking to Skipper. "We've only been here for under an hour, what have we done to you? What could we have done?"

Rico growled at her, still holding the gun he had thrown up earlier.

Marlene could tell this argument was just a fight ready to happen, and felt she had to do something.

"Skipper, please." The otter was almost pleading with him, and didn't like that, so she quickly switched to a more scolding tone. "These girls haven't done anything to you. They just got here, and you're already giving them a bad impression."

Skipper looked at Marlene, and she looked back at him.

"I'll '_calm down'_ once I know who they are." He said. "And that they're not spies."

He looked back to the new animals. They were all giving him weird looks, even the bat had stopped glaring at Rico.

"Um, spies?" The small black and white one sounded much less scared, and much more confused.

Then the bat burst out laughing. She had a loud laugh that all but demanded everyone's attention.

"Spies? What?" She gasped between her laughs. "For who exactly?"

The owl was smirking now, extremely amused.

Skipper looked undignified and a little taken aback.

"Yes, spies." He said, puffing out his chest and crossing his flippers. "And I think you know for who."

The brown bat was literally rolling on the floor in a giggling fit now, and the animal that looked like a flying squirrel had her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. The owl didn't make a sound, however, but raised her would-be eyebrows as her smile grew.

"_What?_" Skipper was definitely annoyed now and, though he would never admit it, embarrassed. His own teammates behind him were smiling and trying not to laugh along with these girls.

The worst part was that Marlene was laughing. Actually laughing. No, not just laughing. She was laughing _at_ _him_. If penguins could blush, Skipper would be completely scarlet.

"I promise, we're not spies." The owl, now fully smiling, crossed her wings. "And if telling you who we are is the only way to get you to leave us alone, we'll tell you."

Skipper frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"Well?" He said it like a command.

"I'm Brii." She pointed to herself.

"This is Sugar." She gestured to the black and white animal.

"Yes, I'm a sugar glider named Sugar." Added Sugar, finally clarifying what kind of animal she was. Then she gave Marlene and the penguins a friendly wave. "Please don't say anything about it."

Brii, the owl, kicked the bat lightly with her talon. "And April here is going to have a heart attack if she doesn't stop laughing soon."

This sent the bat, April, into another fit of laughter. She was still lying on the floor, and started to slap it with the palm of her hand, gasping for air. She was laughing to the point that tears were running down her face. It was starting to freak everyone out.

"Come on, it wasn't _that _funny." Skipper crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Okay," April finally was able to choke out. "Okay. I'm done."

She over dramatically climbed to her feet, but had to lean up against the crate to remain standing.

"And, actually, it _was _that funny." She corrected the penguin commander.

"Are you going to tell us your names' now?" Sugar asked eagerly.

"I'm Private!" The youth was just as eager, but his faced fell after Skipper slapped the back of his head.

"Hi, Private." The sugar glider beamed. This seemed to cheer the young penguin up.

"Alright, _fine._" The lead bird gave in, however reluctantly. "We'll give you our names."

Brii gave him an expectant gaze.

"I'm Skipper, and these are Rico and Kowalski." He swept his flipper to a penguin with a mohawk, the one that could throw up guns, and then to a taller penguin with a round head.

"And you already know Private." He gave the private a glare.

April grinned at Rico in an mock-enthusiastic way, which was met with grunt. Rico stuck his beak up and faced away from her, holding his gun behind his back. April snorted, turning back to the penguins.

"So, how about you show us to our habitats now?" Brii made it sound more like a command than a question.

"Of course!" Marlene was _way _too enthusiastic. "Come on, you're gonna love them!"

She gestured for the new animals to follow, which they did.

Sugar was the last to leave, and gave Private a wave before leaving with the others. Private waved back, his smile stretching from ear to ear. Or ear-hole to ear-hole, more like.

Skipper looked disgusted.

"I don't trust them."

Kowalski decided it only right to defend the new girls.

"Skipper, these girls may be rude, sarcastic, and a little mean-"

"Sugar's not!" Private interrupted. The scientist just ignored him and continued talking.

"-But you shouldn't judge them quite yet. Just give them a chance."

Rico grunted and rolled his is as if to say 'yeah right.'

"We'll see, Kowalski." The penguin commander said. He crossed his flippers behind his back and began to walk to the door.

"Just stay on your guard."


	4. Three Hours

**I'm sick. And it's not fun :(**

**Oh well, story time now! This chapter has a lot of talking in it! I'm sorry!  
**

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**"April."**

_'Who's saying my name?' _

**"_April."_**

_'Why are they yelling at me?'  
_

_**"April!"  
**_

'_Shush!__'_

"Hey! _Wake up!"_

Brii then proceeded to shake the branch her friend was hanging upside-down on, jerking the girl awake.

"Whuzzat?" The bat slurred, leaning forward to see an annoyed looking owl perched on top of the branch peering down at her.

"Brii? What.. Whadda'ya want..?" April began to doze off again.

"No! Don't go back to sleep!" The light brown owl yanked the tree branch around some more. "It took forever to get you up in the first place!"

"Okay, okay! I'm getting up. What's so important that you had to wake me up before 9:30, anyways?"

Brii grinned, glad that her teammate was finally hoisting herself to sit upright and victorious in the fact that she had actually been able to wake her up at all.

"Marlene is going to introduce us around today, remember? We have to be back at our habitats before the zoo opens at 10." She said.

"So what time is it now, then?" April yawned, stretching.

"7:15. That gives us almost three hours, plenty of time."

"What?! Couldn't we have waited an hour? Or at least 30 minutes?

"No. If we're meeting everyone this early, then most of the zoo animals here must be used to getting up around now. We don't want to seem lazy, do we?"

"But I _am _lazy..."

"Oh, stop complaining. And you are _not _lazy, just...Um.." Brii had to think for a moment. "You just like your sleep. That's all. Now come on, Sugar is waiting outside with Marlene."

The pair then flew up through the air vent, and once inside it headed about four or five feet forward before diving down, opening another air vent, and coming out into a hallway. Since both girls were flying animals, they were used to their habitats being completely enclosed and over the years have accumulated many tricks to get in and out of them. One example being to travel through air vents.

They talked to each other as they zoomed through the air, looking for the door that would lead to the front of the building.

The conversation was getting kind of boring when Brii had thought.

"Hey, this is a little random, but what do you think of Marlene? Do you like her?" The owl questioned her friend.

"Yeah. She's cool." The bat replied. "Why? Don't you?"

"I guess. She's a little... I don't know. Strange might be a good word for her...Kind of awkward, maybe a little too enthusiastic."

"Sugar's strange, awkward and enthusiastic."

"No, she's hyper, easily scared and friendly."

April rolled her eyes.

"What?" Brii glanced sideways at her teammate flying on her right.

"We just met Marlene yesterday. I'm sure you'll warm up to her."

"Yeah. You're probably right."

They flew in silence around the last turn and up to the double doors that led outside, pushing them open together. A cool morning breeze swept through the doors as they were separated.

"Hey, guys!" Sugar's voice was the first thing the bat and the owl heard upon exiting. They hovered, flapping their wings to keep from falling, and looked down a bit to see their younger teammate and Marlene waving up at them.

"Morning!" The brown otter greeted the two once they landed.

"Morning." Brii replied.

"Hey." April bobbed her head a bit.

"You ready?" Marlene asked, glad to be of help to the new zoo animals.

The other three girls nodded in response, Sugar a bit too happily.

"I'm _so _excited!" The little sugar glider was practically skipping instead of walking down the walkway that lead through the Central Park Zoo. She was pretty far ahead of the other girls and had to talk loudly for them to hear her properly. "I can't wait to meet everybody!"

Marlene chuckled. "I'm sure they'll like you."

"Hmm.." Sugar stopped skipping, or walking, or whatever she had been doing and set a small fist underneath her chin. "Those penguins didn't like us."

"They don't usually like anybody the first time they meet them. Or at least Skipper doesn't." The otter defended her friends. "And Private _really _seemed to like you."

"Yeah." The black and white mammal smiled widely and let out a breathy giggle before continuing to walk, though not near as fast or as eager as before.

"Sugar, if it's really bothering you we could always apologize." Brii suggested. "In fact, that would probably be the right thing to do."

"No way." April slumped her shoulders, arms crossed, and faced away from the owl.

Smirking at her comrade, the brown bird raised one of her would-be eyebrows. "Don't try to hide it, Api."

Upon hearing this most hated nickname the bat snapped her head back to Brii, who was still smirking, and glared.

"I know you like him. And I mean _like_ _like_ him. As in a crush."

April's eyes widened and she quickly turned back the other way. No one said anything as they just stared at her.

"I have no idea who you're talking about." She finally said.

"You know, the crazy penguin." The female owl pretended to think and tapped her chin with the tip of her wing. "What was his name again?"

The bat still didn't look up.

"Oh _yeah," _Brii was obviously enjoying herself. "Wasn't it _Rico?_"

April shrunk more into herself, like she wanted to disappear then and there. Marlene and Sugar were both entertained, though they felt bad.

"I don't like him..." The brown bat was using one of her rare quiet voices.

"You do too! You were flirting with him and everything!" The brown bird insisted. Her face was expressive, bright and smiling. Her usually calm stance was lose and energetic. In other words, this was about as hyper as the owl ever got.

"Woah, woah, wait!" Marlene interrupted. "She flirted with Rico?"

"No!" April was understandably embarrassed.

"Yes!" Brii just wouldn't drop the subject. "When she was being all tough and glaring at him. She flirts like a second grader."

"I do not!"

"What do you mean?" The otter ignored the girl's protests.

"I mean that, when April is crushing on a guy, she acts like she hates him." The bird explained, as though April weren't there. "She acts tough and overly independent, sometimes even picks fights with the guy if it's a really big crush."

"Brii!" April shouted at her owl teammate before turning to the sugar glider next to her. "Sugar, help me out here!"

Sugar, who had been trying not laugh this whole time, sighed. "You two leave April and her love life alone." The girl waggled a finger at her friends.

"That's not what I was hoping for at all!" April was fully freaking out know.

"We're _supposed_ to be meeting our neighbors!" The sugar glider reminded the other girls, making a 'duh' kind of face on the word supposed. "And you guys have probably wasted ten minutes teasing poor Api here."

"Hmph.. I _guess _that's better" The brown bat frowned. She appreciated the subject change, just not the repeated use of her old nickname.

"Well we're still apologizing to the penguins later." Brii was definitely stubborn.

"But-"

"Hey, Burt's habitat is right over there!" Marlene interrupted April's barely started sentence. "He's an elephant, and he's a little weird, but I'm sure you'll like him anyways!"

The otter gestured for the other girls to follow her, which they did. However, as the others ran ahead of her, April huffed and walked slowly behind with her arms crossed and her feet dragging. At that moment, she decided today was going on her list of top ten worst days ever. And she knew for a fact that it was only going to go downhill.

* * *

The penguins were down in their HQ, each doing nothing in particular. Skipper was drinking what looked to be coffee out of a mug; A fish tail was poking out of top, flopping limply over the side. Private was sitting on the floor and brushing his Lunacorn toy's mane. Rico sat next to him, combing through the blonde hair of a doll. Kowalski was at the table putting a few finishing touches on his Thought Projector.

It was all really unproductive, which bothered Skipper to no end. When he had said he would give his team the morning off he hadn't realized it would be so darn difficult to do so. He hadn't the slightest idea of how he had made it to 9:30 without cracking. He kept telling himself that he had the willpower to hold out for that last thirty minutes, but was beginning to doubt even his own will.

One minute passed. Two minutes passed. Now five minutes, and on to ten. And to Skipper, each second felt like a minute, each minute felt like an hour.

So the penguin commander was left to his thoughts as he all but hoped not to just explode in the midst of all this lazy, unproductive, pointless, and altogether frustrating nothingness.

* * *

"King?"

"Yes, silly batty lady, a _king._"

April was looking at a white and black ring-tailed lemur in disbelief.

"King of _what, _exactly?"

"Of my _kingdom_, duh!" The lemur made a face at the 'silly batty lady' who apparently didn't know a kingdom when she saw one.

"Okay then?" The bat looked around in confusion, wondering if maybe this 'kingdom' was invisible. She tuned her head back to face forward and found the 'king' lemur's face much too close to hers for comfort.

"Personal space!" April stumbled back away from him.

The ring-tailed lemur ignored her, and spun his head towards Sugar.

"You! Little squirrel-y thingy. You can see my kingly-ness, right?" He pointed a finger to the sugar glider.

"Um.." Sugar was completely lost, and had no clue what to say.

"Can't you see my crown?! It's right here, look at it!" He gestured frantically to the crown on his head. Then he turned his attention to a short and sturdy grey lemur next to him. "Maurice, have I got it on?"

"Yes, Julien." The grey lemur, Maurice, sounded unenthusiastic.

"Good. Now, introduction!" Julien straightened and clapped his hands twice. Maurice sighed.

"This is the illustrious King Julien the third of Madagascar, blah blah blah, hooray everybody."

Despite the grey lemur's lack of enthusiasm, the king lemur looked satisfied with the 'introduction' and held his head up proudly.

"Yaaaay!" A tiny brown lemur with big eyes happily clapped his hands and cheered in high pitched voice. He didn't show signs of quieting anytime soon.

"Thank you, Mort!" Julien scolded, annoyed.

"Okay, then!" Brii, who had been silent for the most part, piped up. Things were becoming a little too awkward for her. "I think we should get going. Marlene, that's the penguins habitat over there, right?"

"Yeah, it's almost ten, though. Do you want to go over there now or wait 'till the zoo closes later?" The white and brown otter asked.

"Now would be good." The crowned lemur made Brii pretty uncomfortable, and she thought it best to go as soon as possible.

"Alright. Bye, Julien!" Marlene waved.

* * *

Skipper's eye was twitching, as well as his hands. He had drank all of his coffee, but was still clutching the handle of the mug tightly. Fifteen more minutes. He wasn't sure if he could even do five more.

So the lead penguin was uncharacteristically relieved when a brown otter came in through the hatch in the ceiling.

"Hey." Marlene greeted.

"Marlene!" The flat-headed penguin tried to think of a comment about how the otter should announce herself before just barging in, but decided it best not to try to pretend to be angry, or even annoyed.

"Aren't you going to get mad at me? Say something about how I should knock?" The girl looked at Skipper expectantly.

"Um.. Don't just barge in without.. Uh, knocking. This-this is my HQ and... Um..." the penguin commander was stuttering, once again way out of character. What was wrong with him this morning? Maybe it was because he couldn't help but find Marlene's expression completely adorable?

'_No__.' _Skipper thought. _'It's just that I haven't said more than six or seven words all morning. I'm just not used to my voice yet.'_

"What Skipper's trying to say is that it would be nice for you to, at least once, give us some sort of warning before dropping in here." The scientist penguin spoke for his commander.

"Thank you, Kowalski." Skipper was honestly grateful.

"Anyways," Marlene was slightly confused as to the commander penguin's behavior. "Could you come outside? Someone needs to talk to you."

"Who needs to talk to us?" Private said the first thing he had since the female otter had come in.

"Just come on. The zoo's opening in, like, ten minutes or something. We have to hurry."

The penguins didn't argue further, knowing they would find out who it was faster by just doing as Marlene had said.

"Are you guys just going to stay down here or..?" Marlene turned to them, already half way up the ladder.

"Hmph," Skipper was settling back into character now. "Men, you heard her. Move out!"

* * *

**Gah! I wanted this chapter to have so much more in it, but it's already so long! Frustration! ****Ah, well. We'll all just have to wait until next chapter, right? And since I'm home sick from school, that chapter might be uploaded today!  
**

**So what do you guy's think of my OC's? I hope I went into their characters' more, but are they too perfect?  
**

**Review and tell me! Favorite and follow and stuff if you like this story!  
**


	5. Just Another Day at the Zoo

**Yes, finally, an update!**

**I'm sorry for taking so long. Please don't hate me! Even though I'm probably a terrible person. I already hate me. But I would still prefer that you didn't.**

**Now you read this while I go wallow in my self-hate.**

* * *

"I guess what we're trying to say, is that we're sorry for how we acted. It was uncalled for and rude." Brii finished off her apology. When the only responses she got from the penguins were stares of assorted attitudes, she looked to her to her friends for help.

"I guess we were just a little grumpy from the trip here and all..." Sugar piped. April didn't look in the mood to say much of anything, she didn't like apologies much.

Across from the girls, the penguin commandos stood looking at them. Skipper had his eyes narrowed, private stood awkwardly along with Kowalski, and Rico's face was unreadable as usual. Next to them, Marlene rocked on her heals, a fake smile that suggested she would rather be somewhere else plastered on her face.

"_This is just awkward..._" The otter inwardly remarked.

"Ahem.." Kowalski nervously cleared his throat.

_"How many awkward stand offs are we going to get into with these girls?" _The scientist pondered.

Silence set back in, and the time ticked on.

"... Well?" The tension was a bit too much, Brii had decided.

"Well." Was all Skipper said.

"_Well, _what?" If there was one thing the owl didn't like, it was unnecessary one word answers. And that answer definitely should've been way longer than that.

"Well, not a chance. There's no way we're accepting apologies from the enemy."

Brii slapped a wing to her face and groaned, while Sugar slouched with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, will you just stop!" April loudly said the first thing she had all this time. She was pretty annoyed at this point, which usually wasn't good for anyone. Especially not the object of her annoyance. "We're not spies! Sure, we were kind of jerks before, but that does _not _mean we want to be your enemies!"

"I think I know when and when not not to trust someone!"

"You're crazy!"

"You want to _see _crazy, spy?!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down, guys!" Marlene pushed herself in between the two animals, forcing them farther apart.

"Yeah, there's not a reason to start a fight here!" Sugar agreed, and moved to the brown otter's side with her hands on her hips. April snorted at this, and rolled her eyes to look in the opposite direction. The sugar glider's head snapped towards her, and she tried to give the bat her best angry look.

"Ap-" Sugar had barely started, before April turned and practically stomped off. She quickly got to the top of the fencing surrounding the penguins' habitat and jumped off, catching the wind.

"-ril?" Sugar finished, watching her friend glide off.

* * *

April didn't go far, just up to a nearby tree. She was trying not to start any trouble, being new to this zoo and all, but trouble had almost inevitable in her previous situation. What was wrong with this Skipper guy? He's way too paranoid.

"_Maybe I should get him a psychiatrist. I'd love to see the look on his face..." _The brown bat mused.

The wind picked up some, blowing through both the tree branches and her fur. She sighed happily through her nosed and folded her arms behind her head. She leaned back on the trunk of the tree she was currently using as her perch, getting comfortable. After a while in this position, she detected the sound of music.

_"Where's that coming from? No humans are supposed to be here yet..."_ April thought bemusedly, opening her eyes. Deciding to investigate, she slowly got to her feet. Peering out over the zoo, she pinpointed the source of the noise. Her face immediately took on a look of both confusion and curiosity.

_"Are those squirrels? And what's on that one's head?" _The bat continued to observe the "squirrels" with the same expression and feelings. She laughed a bit when she realized that they were dancing.

Then she remembered. That weird lemur "king" and his little friends. Wasn't his name Julien?

She allowed herself to bounce and sway to the sound of the bass, which was the most clear part of the song from this distance.

Deciding that they seemed to be having more fun than she was, April let the wind hit her wings and leaped off of the limb. Sure, Julien was weird, and so was that little brown lemur with the high pitched voice. But it's not like there was anything better to do.

And, after all, April loved a good party.

* * *

"Yeah. She gets like that sometimes." Brii explained to Marlene. April's outburst hadn't given a good impression. Not that it was great to begin with.

"Did she have to leave like that, though?" The apology definitely hadn't gone as planned, and in her mind it could've been fixed if the bat hadn't left.

"It's probably for the best, she needs some time to cool down."

There was a short pause before Brii added, "She's bi-polar, you know."

"Really? I guess it kind of makes sense now, though."

The pair were sitting adjacent to each other in Marlene's habitat, waiting out the time left until the zoo would open and Brii would have to head back to her habitat. Sugar had already gone back to her own, saying she needed a few extra minutes of sleep before the zoo opened.

The two sat in a mutual silence for the most of the remaining time, left to their own thoughts.

Brii wondered about why she hadn't liked Marlene at first. She was a nice person, comfortable to be around.

_"I wonder what April thinks of her now..." _After the conversation she and April had had that morning, it would be almost funny if the bat thought any less of Marlene. It would be like she and Brii had swapped mindsets.

Marlene was thinking about the penguins again, specifically Skipper. What was up with him? The otter didn't think his outburst that morning was like him. And maybe the penguin commander was being a bit more paranoid than usual? She remembered how, after April had flown off, he had went right back down into his HQ, looking almost like a child after being scolded by a parent. Private had apologized some, and said that he at least accepted their apology. Sugar had thanked the British penguin with a sweet smile, and Brii had told him he had nothing to be sorry for. Kowalsi had said he "concurred" with Private, and would try to get his leader to come around. Rico made babbling noises some, and grinned, making Sugar laugh.

_"It really didn't I'm sure I can get them to get along."_ Marlene determined. _"__I'll think of something eventually."_

* * *

Skipper sat at the table in the penguin HQ, that overly-stressed feeling just refusing to let him be. At this point, though, he was one-hundred and one percent sure exactly what the feeling was. It was his gut, telling him something was going to happen, and that that something wasn't going to be good.

_"It's those girls," _The flat headed penguin couldn't be anymore positive of this either. _"There's something off about them. My gut has been on guard ever since they got here, and when has it ever been wrong? I mean, come on! They looked fully prepared for a fight the second that crate was opened! No one just _does _that!"_

Across the room, the rest of the team was grouped in front of the TV, casting concerned glances at their leader.

"Do you think we should try to talk to him?" Private worriedly inquired.

"No, private. Skipper's thinking," Kowalski explained to the shorter penguin. "And it probably best to just let him do so."

"Buhabahabaha bababa!" Though unintelligible, Rico's teammates could still understand what he meant by gestures to the clock mounted on the wall.

"Well, that is true..." The British penguin tilted his head a bit to show his agreement.

"We have ten more minutes, though." The scientist penguin reasoned. "And knowing Skipper, he'll probably alert us of the time before we'll have to alert him. If he doesn't, I suppose we could just take that as a sign that something is _seriously _wrong."

With those words, they all turned to look at Skipper with hopeful, almost pleading, expressions.

The three birds had been going back and forth like this for a while now, voicing their concerns and opinions. And all this time, their leader had just sat at that stainless steel table with his eyes glued to his clasped flippers and would-be eyebrows furrowed in thought, showing no signs of having desire to interact with anyone or anything. He really wasn't showing very many signs of life, either. It was honestly pretty concerning.

Which is probably why Skipper's men could've sighed in relief, maybe even hugged him, when their leader stood up and said;

"Eight minutes until opening time, boys. Get out there and be as cute and cuddly as possible!"

But instead of hugs, the other three penguins thought better and just climbed up and through the hatch after a few simple, however enthusiastic, salutes and yes-sir's.

* * *

"Sorry, Jules, but I gotta go. The zoo's opening in, like, five minutes."

"But batty-lady, this is my favorite song! Listen to that beat, can't you just feel the groove?" Julian tried to convince April, waving his tail and shimmying along with the music for emphasis.

"So were the last two," The brown bat replied, rolling her eyes in a lighthearted way. She and the lemurs had actually become rather friendly with each other, April even awarding the lemur "king" with a nickname. She had found Julien and his, what he called, "subjects" to be pretty entertaining. Even though they, aside maybe from Maurice, were still weird. "But I seriously have to go now. This is the lemur habitat. There's no mention of a bat anywhere in there."

"Fine then. Maurice!" The ring-tailed lemur summoned his right-hand man, clapping twice. The shorter grey lemur unenthusiastically walked to his king, not in much of a hurry.

"Yes, your majesty?" He answered. April quietly chuckled at Maurice's tone, which not-so-subtley suggested that he would rather be lounging in a hammock right now. She found the grey lemur and Julien's relationship and interactions amusing. Maurice didn't want to be there and Julien, with his dramatic character and false sense of being in charge of everything, was either oblivious to this or just didn't care.

"Write this down for me: I officially declare with my official kingly-ness, that batty-lady is now to be a lemur and so to be a part of my kingdom- Maurice, you are writing this down, aren't you?"

"Yes, your majesty." Maurice's tone wasn't much different besides being a bit faster and more distracted, probably a result of how quickly he was scribbling on a sheet of paper with what looked to be a feather ink pen.

"Yay!" Mort celebrated, peppy happy as usual, clapping a hopping all the way.

_"Where did he even get those?" _April wondered, looking at the wiring tools in Maurice's grasp. But then she realized what the lemurs were doing, and remembered what time it was.

"Julian! Stop!"

"Stop what?" The crowned lemur seemed genuinely surprised by the bat's outburst.

"Writing that! I'm a bat, not a lemur, and besides, I have to go!" She answered with a look at the large clock above the front gates, and began hurriedly pulling herself to the top of the fencing around the habitat.

"But-"

"But nothing!" April cut Julian off mid sentence, before capturing the air under her wings and gliding off. As a sort of apology, she called back to her new friends as she left. "I'll be here to visit again after the zoo closes! I promise!"

"Bye!" Mort called back, all the while stretching out the word, jumping around, and waving rapidly.

Choosing to ignore the tiny brown lemur, Julien looked to the side and puffed out his cheeks in a pout.

* * *

Brii flapped her wings a little harder, moving as fast as she could to her habitat. It's not that she had left Marlene's late, in fact, she had left the otter's habitat at a reasonable time. The owl was late now because she had gotten lost. She had ended up asking a pair of chimps for directions, who, at least the one who could actually talk, had chuckled some and told her that she was heading in the complete wrong direction. The other chimp had just said something in sign language that the British one must've thought was funny, because the talking one laughed at that too. Brii couldn't help but think it was about her, though she knew it probably wasn't.

Not too happy about possibly being laughed at, but nonetheless grateful for help, she quickly flew in towards the building the primates had directed her towards.

The bird swooped into the vent she and April had come out of earlier that morning, panting a bit from the exerting so much energy in flying this fast. Once she came out of the vent and into the habitat, she saw April diving into her own habitat in the wall perpendicular to Brii's.

The bat noticed Brii as well, and gave a small wave, which was mirrored back.

_"It's nice that we're in the same building,"_ Brii thought. _"I have someone for company. Too bad Sugar's in the one across the zoo..."_

The owl settled down on one of the artificial branches protruding from the left wall for a rest. Now alone and left to nothing besides herself and her thoughts, she nestled down and waited for the people who were sure to arrive any minute now.

* * *

"Smile and wave, boys!"

Marlene, upon hearing Skipper's signature phrase, looked over to the penguin's habitat from the top of her concrete slide and grinned. Though she couldn't see them through the mass of humans surrounding them, she knew they must be as entertaining as ever.

_"They always have such a crowd." _The otter commented in her mind. And as some people stopped in front of her own habitat, she set a goal for herself. _"I guess I'll just have to step up my game."_

And with that, she jumped up, twirling once before landing on her stomach and surfing down to the tip of the slide, where she balanced on one hand. Taking a quick glance at her own crowd, Marlene found that the group of spectators had grown a little. With a boost in confidence, she flipped off the hand she was balancing on and dived into the water with a, "Wheeeeeeee!"

Surfacing as fast as possible to see the reaction, her face fell to see people walking away instead of clapping. Her disappointment turned to aggravation just as fast, however, and the otter shouted out to her not-so-supporting previous audience.

"Hey, I _practiced_ that, you know!"

Skipper, upon hearing Marlene's irritated shout, chuckled to himself.

_"What she needs to do is get herself a new act. Jump and slide gets old, unlike cute and cuddly. Wonder why she hasn't thought of something new yet, but then again, she is a mammal..."  
_

Skipper put aside thoughts of the otter, and continued to entertain the large audience. The penguins went on with their little show, sliding around and occasionally diving into the water. They were completely unaware of one specific spectator, and what that one was planning._  
_

* * *

"You're sure?"

"Yes, it's definitely them."

"Good work, N. We'll dispatch agents as soon as we can."

And with that, a small figure pressed a button on the side of a walkie-talkie, which emitted a small high-pitched beep, and quickly darted from their post behind a child's stroller.

* * *

**Yay! 'Tis done!  
**

**I can update regularly now that I have internet connection and a new laptop. I'm thinking every Saturday or Sunday.  
What do you guys think?  
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**Review and tell me when you think I should up date, or tell me how much you hate me for taking so long! Favorite and follow and all that jazz too, if you like the story!  
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**By the way, thanks so much too all my lovely followers and reviewers that I have currently! You're amazing and I luffs you all!  
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